Rines
by Duriel von Abaddon
Summary: Bunch of Spec Ops 'Rines are basically called in to destroy a group of Dropships that were shot down so the enemy wont capture any info from them. Basically a bunch of really not so fun things start happening to them.
1. Boring Ops

"WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING? HIBERNATING!" The UNSC Gunnery Sergeant belted.

The Marines started stumbling out of their cots and doing their best to stand at attention beside them while still half-asleep.

"Wash up, eat, suit up, were being called to fix the mess the Airborne units made...again"

Lance Corporal Zach Stark shuffled along in to the showers.

"Think they got the hot water back up Zach?" Asked PFC Eric "Mac" Roberts

Zach ignored him and hit the 5 minute button on the showers

"Christ" he swore as he got a face full of ice cold water

"Aren't Humans great? We probably spend a thousand dollars a year filling up the water cooler and 100 bucks a year on new playing cards, but we can't manage to get hot water in the showers" complained Mac

"Does anyone even use the water cooler?"

"Only for practical jokes if we ever get inspected by a General or something, the chocolate bar floating around there, apple juice, you know"

"Mac, you're an idiot"

"How so?"

"Do you remember why they call you Mac?"

"Because I tried kill an enemy soldier with the antique Mac-10 I found in a house when we were sent to defend that city?"

"And did you succeed?"

"Okay I get your point"

The showers shut off and the Marines made their way to the lockers to get their uniforms for jungle combat, or that's what they were told.

After suiting up, eating the slop served everyday in the mess hall, they reported to the briefing room.

"Okay here's the deal. The flyboys messed up and got 6 Dropships downed over an excessively thick forest, of all places. So basically we go in, get the bodies out, and torch the Dropships so any info doesn't get captured. We've all done it before, should be in and out in under a day, now hit it, the good Dropship pilots are getting impatient"


	2. Spit it Out

FME! I'M ALL OUTTA ENEMIES!

FME! I'M ALL OUTTA ENEMIES!

FME! I'M ALL OUTTA ENEMIES!

FME! I'M ALL OUTTA ENEMIES!

The radio in the Dropship blared.

"Good ole thrash metal" Said one of the new members to the Spec Ops Squad.

"Approaching the LZ" said the Dropship pilot over the intercom

Corporal Emanuel Howard leaned out the drop ship a bit too look at the first target

"Ain't that a shame, perfectly good soldiers and gear all blasted to hell"

"EVERYONE out!" The Dropship Pilot leveled out the vehicle and the Marines jumped out, getting some distance from the ship as it hovered dangerously close to the ground.

"Okay, get the bodies into the Dropship, then wrap this thing up boys" ordered Staff Sergeant Randy Collins. Who was leading the mission.

Staff Sergeant Collins was only recently promoted, and this was his first command of his career, the Corps didn't really think they needed a very experienced person for this job, it was relatively routine considering all the ships being shot down. Command knew Collins was an effective leader and loyal soldier so they thought he would be the perfect man for the job.

Emanuel carried a pack of demolition charges over to the downed ship. He was the only black man in his unit, but the Spec Ops were credited for being the most multi-cultural division in the corps.

"Hey Emanuel! I need a charge, if we hit this spot here, and here, the ships fuel will ignite, there's only a bit left but we'll save charges." Explained the Engineer.

A few minutes later the downed Dropship was detonated from afar, the bodies loaded up into the Spec Ops Dropship. And the soldiers moved on.

"Okay wait. We're going west, if we keep going were all going to be very muddy in a few yards. There's a swamp area up there, plus our target is north west, an easier rout, to the target, and its really where we should be going" said the PFC in charge of navigation.

"Okay, were changing paths - -"

"Sir, why doesn't the Dropship just ferry us to the six targets?" Interrupted Zach.

"The enemy is still positioned somewhere in this place, they have quite a substantial force, its best to stay out of the air seeing as they shot down 6 Dropships already."

"So then isn't 20 men a bit small for 'quite substantial force'?"

"They sent us in with only 20 men because we frankly kick ass like no other, got it Zach?" the Sergeant joked, obviously a bit concerned himself. But the Commander is never supposed to show fear. The Commander has everything locked down and ready, he knows where the enemy is, he knows where his soldiers are, he has everything planned out, a good Commander goes home with zero casualties and sends the enemy home in a basket. Or that's what Staff Sergeant Randy Collins believed in at least.

"Okay, lets get moving, we all want to go home ASAP right?"

Just then the Recon unit walked up to Collins and handed him a map.

Collins looked at it for a few minutes, each second that went by he seemed to grow more frustrated and concerned.  
  
"Right...change of plans, we're abandoning the second objective. Private, explain what this map means."

"Okay, so obviously this is the forest area here. The red shading represents the enemy forces; this map was made at 7 AM this morning. THIS map, was made just now, the red is moving very efficiently through the terrain. Considering the speed compared to the thickness of the forest, we have concluded that they likely have tanks, warthogs, and a whole mess of things we don't have and don't want to see out here. We need to move south, there is another target not too far away. We can at least take it out before calling for evac. Hopefully we won't need to".

"Lets move, hurry it, we need to be over this escarpment before 12:00.


	3. Note to self: Aim Higher Next Time

"Well ain't that a bitch" Complained Mac

"I was hoping we would get to torch more shit, bah, guess its better safe that sorry"

"That's just it Mac" responded Zach

"Its not safe to leave those 5 Dropships out there, if the enemy captures them all, and decodes the data, we're gonna have a big mess to clean up"

"Its getting dark out, its not even 12" Emanuel points out.

"Fuck, if it rains I'm gonna...I'm gonna complain a lot about it" said Mac.

"Stop"

"Snipers. Here, now" Ordered Collins

Three Spec ops soldiers with very over-threatening looking guns on their backs and SMGs in their hands walked over to the Staff Sergeant.

"Look at this, they dug in down there, we got 8 guys patrolling, 3 in tents and 3 warthogs, a recon squad".

"I want you to use silencers. It might make you a tad less accurate but we can't let them know were here, if they get those chainguns on the 'hogs started up we'll be pinned down here and have to call in an air strike, and we all know the situation about flying over this place."

The snipers moved down the escarpment a bit to get a better view, and to make sure that the main group wasn't at risk if they drew fire accidentally. Screwed on their silencers, and planned the takedown. They decided to stand when they could and keep moving. Shooting the enemy when they went behind a big enough tree, or cluster of bushes.

"I got one taking a leak beside a pool of water, it looks deep, I'm going for it"

He squeezed the trigger slowly. There was a slight thud as the bullet left the barrel and entered the back of the soldier's skull, leaving through his forehead. He fell into the muddy water. Hidden in it.

"Target down, target down" the sniper whispered into his radio quite happy with his shot.

"I think I got one taking a walk, I don't like where he's headed..."

The radio was silent for a few minutes.

"Son of a bitch is looking right at the main squad," Said the second Sniper."

"He just moved into a tent, its vacant I'm taking him out" Reported the third Sniper. He moved the crosshair over the man's faint shadow in the tent, adjusted it just below the shadow of his head, knowing that it would be higher than the actual person. He fired. He saw the shadow jerk back, fall. Then he started crawling, crawling towards the entrance to the tent.

"SNIPERS!" the wounded man managed to get out through his bloody throat.

"Snipers, fire at will, take them down!" Collins yelled from over the escarpment, not worrying about being seen. He then ducked down behind it again.

"ASSAULT! I NEED BACKUP FOR THOSE SNIPERS! TAKE OUT THE WARTHOGS!"

Four men mounted their guns on the muddy escarpment and opened up at the 7 enemy soldiers below. Bullets crashed through the Warthogs window, popped tires, and shredding the chainguns. A lucky shot penetrated a gas tank and the Hog burst into flames. The snipers moved down the slope and took out their SMGs after placing their rifles on their backs. Bullets sprayed from the three SMGs while the four gunners above rained hell down on the men trying to take cover. The burning Warthog had almost gone out as it was just a pile of scrap metal and randomly exploding ammunition from the chaingun. An enemy soldier leaned out from behind a tree and threw a grenade, the snipers took cover and were jumped by 2 enemies with Assault Rifles. One of the three Snipers secretly loaded a new clip of ammo into his SMG, rolled over and sprayed the 2 soldiers with lead. One of their hands clasped shut as a bullet entered his head, his Assault Rifle went off hitting the sniper in the shoulder, and riddling the log behind them with bullets.

The rest of the Spec Ops team rushed the enemy after Emanuel and Mac had thrown a grenade each down into the fray. Staff Sergeant Collins aimed his Assault Rifle forward and entered a tent where another man was hiding from the fire.

"DOWN! DOWN! ON THE FLOOR!" Collins ordered, he took out a pair of plastic fastener handcuffs and cuffed the man in the tent to the tent post.

Collins spun around and fired his Assault Rifle through the tent at a man he could see sneaking up past the wall. The man collapsed and fell through the ripped tent wall.

Meanwhile an unlucky PFC found himself with no ammo, and face to face with an enemy who had what he needed. He took out his survival knife, remembering his training with it he threw a fake punch at his foe's face, when the man moved his rifle to block it, the PFC drove the knife into his gut in an upwards motion with one stroke. Then removed the blade as fast as possible to ensure faster bleeding at the deepest point. The PFC kicked to the side of his enemy's legs knocking him over and stealing his ammo.

"CLEAR!"

The Spec Ops team members shouted from various points around the camp.

"MEDIC! We got wounded!" Shouted a Sniper.

The medic jumped over the log and kneeled down beside the wounded Sniper.

"Okay," he gently pulled him forwards.

"Good, we got an exit wound, that means the bullet wont stay and fester and no immediate surgery needs to be made"

He patches it up and goes off.

"IS ANYONE HURT AT ALL!" Yelled Collins

Everyone reported in on the radio as fine.

"Right then, lets scavenge any equipment we need, then report back to the center of camp, we'll move on after that." ordered Emmanuel, being the second in Command.


	4. Just Don't Stand On It

"Bit of a hill ahead Sarg. The second objective is behind it, I think we should peek around first." A British recon unit said.

"Kidd", Collins motioned to move forward. Specialist Andy Kidd was always the one corner peeking during indoor raids, and looking where he shouldn't be at the enemy. He's caused a few bad guys to die, and probably saved the lives of a couple soldiers. He was great at surveying, he could tell if the enemy had been somewhere even a week after they left. He would survey an area to see if it was an attractive target to an enemy and if he thought they might try to take it, it got mined. He was almost never wrong. He was always scared about it because you never know when someone is standing right at the corner your looking around ready to take off your head.

Kidd strapped his rifle to his back and whipped out his uber-binoculars, he had that written on the side. He gave all his gear names, his rifle was Jacky, the name of his sister that beat up a guy for him when he was 12. He was a weird guy, maybe that's why he was so good at his job.

He slid across the ground in his cliched spy way that he loved doing, and slowly looked around the hill. It was there all right. A smashed up Dropship lying in a heap right there, dead in front of him. With enemy soldiers swarming all over it, like ants on a wad of gum, they all had that cocky look on their face, the one that said, lookie what I found pop, neighbors gonna be mighty jealous. The bastards. Then he saw something that confused him a great deal.

He waved back to another soldier to get a second opinion.

The other man ran up to the front while hunched over to avoid being spotted, thumping down beside him.

"Yeah Kidd?"

"Look, over there, behind those guys with the big grenade launcher/shotguns, on the truck."

"Woah. I want to call command, they can't have that" said the second man.

"What I was thinking. Lets tell Collins" agreed Kidd


	5. The OTHER Admiral Cole

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Downey walked over to his computer and sat down. He opened a word processing program and began typing.

Dear Admiral Cole:

Two days ago six UNSC FF-Class Drop Ships were shot down over enemy territory. A Spec Ops team under the Command of Staff Sergeant Randy Collins was deployed to destroy the ships to prevent the enemy from gathering intel from them. A day ago, the team reported that the Koslovic army is in possession of a SWD-Class Tactical Nuclear warhead. The team has now been discovered by the enemy, and are in need of reinforcements, they have already sustained five casualties. They have a wounded Sniper who's injuries have become infected, and they fear if he is not brought out of the field he will die in less than a week. The area is heavily fortified, orbital air strikes are the only option at this point. Once the area around the team is clear we expect to be able to destroy any remaining enemies with Longsword bomber raids. The team has requested to attempt to complete their mission. But given the circumstances Command has asked me to transfer observation and control of this mission to HQ.

-Lieutenant Colonel Brian Downey


	6. Click Click Boom

Its 8:21 PM, its dark as hell, its raining like a hurricane. Of coarse it's raining, why not. Artillery is pounding the earth to a mix of mud and forest. Bullets are as constant as heartbeats. Spec Ops has been pinned down for 8 hours.

Zach stomps through the mud and lands beside Kidd, who is staring at the enemy through binoculars and making a sad attempt at updating a soaked, ripped up map.

"Okay, the artillery up there" Zach points a muddy finger at the paper.

"I think I can make a run for it and take it out, there are only two guys guarding it" he states.

"Right, I'm coming with you" Kidd says forcefully, not wanting to stay where he is.

"Fair enough, three, two..." Zach jumps out of the foxhole and blasts forward, Kidd running behind him.

They zigzag in the muck to avoid being separated from anything they may need, such as a leg.

Zach drops down a few feet in front of Kidd, he motions to go around the artillery gun, and to shoot the second they both have rifles aimed. They start moving again.

They start moving left, around the gun. They reach the back of the gun. Kidd fires off his rifle and the Artillery Spotter who is kneeling down slowly tips over. The other screams something inaudible amongst the cracking rifles and exploding artillery, before Kidd puts two rounds in his temple.

"You waited too long" Kidd justifies himself for taking Zach's kill.

"LOOK!" Zach yalps while pointing into the sky.

The two Marines stare towards a sky, a strange shadow moves through it

"Battlecruisers!" shouts Emanuel back with the rest of the group.

"Sweet Jesus! Command brought Battlecruisers!"

Zach runs to the front of the Gun and pops a grenade in the barrel,

"HIT IT!"

Zach and Kidd jump into an enemy foxhole as the gun erupts in a fury of not yet fired shells.

"LETS GET BACK DOWN THERE! I DON'T WANT TO BE IN ENEMYY TERRITORY WHEN THOSE CRUISERS START FIRING!" Kidd yells over the deafening roar of engines in the sky.

Zach gives them the thumbs up and the two bolt out of the foxhole and down the hill to join up with the rest of the Marines.

"Keep it on...." a Spec Ops machine gunner mumbles to himself as he trains his gun on two figures advancing towards him.

One of the two starts waving, while the other holds a rifle by the top.

"Jesus, Zach, a man get himself waxed doing that" says the gunner as Zach and Kidd land beside him and start taking down his gun.

"What are doing!" the gunner shouts.

"Cruisers man, were pulling the fuck back, less you want to eat 50,000 pound bombs."

The gunner strapped his gun to his back and grabbed the tripod not wanting to wait around and put them away correctly.

The three ran towards the main group,

"One less gun Sarge" Kidd pointed out.

"Good work, now haul ass, were moving as far as we can, we got five minutes, we've made contact with the lead Cruiser and they say the bombs will be ready soon, they don't want to be shot down here"

The gunner looked at the massive ship in the air

"Yeah I don't want that thing shot down over me either" he said in a joking way. Knowing all too well the blast one of those makes when its shot down.

"Targets locked and ready to receive payload sir" a soldier at the Helm on the lead Cruiser said to the Captain.

"Send a message to the other two ships"

"Teach them not to mess with our GOD DAMNED MEN!"

"Yes sir!" the Helmsman said with a grin on his face

Notes:

_Recently the US army made a 20,000 pound bomb, just thought I'd make it a bit bigger. For anyone who's wondering, since this is a long while before HALO, even before the Covenant/. Cruisers would be like a small version of the PoA. Sub-Halcyon._


	7. The Inevitable

So then it happened. The three Battlecruisers opened up on the enemy. All at once the Earth shook, trees were reduced to splinters smaller than toothpicks. The sky lit up with fire so hot it could probably evaporate the raindrops. The noise was matched by nothing. The soldiers placed earplugs in their ears, in a sad attempt to avoid massive headaches later on. Artillery Cannons were shredded and melted beyond recognition, even their designers would have wondered what the piles of steel were at once point. Men were vaporized or blasted to the tiniest of pieces by the world-ending force of the Battlecruiser's. Then Spec Ops men couldn't help but feel sorry for the men being slaughtered in the area surrounding. They we're just soldiers fighting for what they believed, they had family somewhere. The men were all told in training to never give their enemy a face. But sometimes it proved impossible. Especially when one must shoot the enemy only a few feet from their face.

It was inevitable. It had to happen. Every battle has its casualties, be them small or large, or in this case, huge. One of the Battlecruisers ahead had taken the brunt of the entire enemy assault. And it could take no more. Fires exploded from every side of the behemoth, a loud siren began to blare as the ship once hovering above delivering the enemy to their creators, was 'sinking'. Its damaged thrusters slowly gave way to the weight of the ship. It was too close to the ground the release any life pods. Such an action would send its crew plummeting to a shallow grave. Maybe some had a chance if the engines survived the crash. The ship flared its engines as well as it could, lighting up the sky with fuel and exhaust. It was trying to maneuver away as far from the Marines on the ground as it could, and over the enemy as much as possible. Sergeant Collins gave the order to pull back even farther. The other two Battlecruisers let their last bombs explode before retreating. Odds are that engine was going to blow, and the blast would likely take down at least one of the two Ships.

"Come on! It's almost down!" Collins yelled as he waved the Marines forward.

The Ship let out a loud bending metal noise as it plowed into the ground, side first.

The Marines ducked down a good distance away. They stared in awe as the Ship's hull caved in on itself. Deck after deck bursting through the walls and bursting into flames. The interior of the Ship becoming visible to those outside. The exterior walls seemed to peel off like nothing. The ship let out a few pillars of flame. That's when the Marines knew to duck down. The engines ignited, the pressure had build for too long, and the ship looked like a paper plane being set on fire after doused with white out. The UNSC flag displayed on the tail wing was absorbed by the white hot flame. The Marines closed their eyes, covered them with hands and looked down and away. Anything to avoid the blinding light of a Cruiser's engines going off. For a good six minutes the dead night sky looked as though it was the middle of day. Clouds became white again and the rain appeared to stop. The shock wave leveled the surrounding area of forest, the forest that survived the initial bombardment of the three monster ships. The ground itself gave way as if trying to escape the blast. The air heated up like a furnace and the wind blew harder than any of the men had ever known.

Soon the ground ceased all movement. Objects thrown from the blast came rolling to a stop. The night sky returned and pushed out the artificial daylight. The rain had stopped though, or was stopping. Once given the all clear, men began standing up to survey the destruction. The sense of nothingness was all to present.

Collins knew they would have some work to do in the morning. He ordered everyone to try and get some sleep. Leaving two men to stay watch switching to another 2 every other hour.


	8. Day 2, Not A Good One

The 15 Spec Ops Marines trudge over the hill around the shallow but wide crater left by the downed Battlecruiser.

"Damn, I don't know if I would WANT to survive that" Mac states stepping over a piece of debris.

"Pessimist" another soldier mutters

"What's that hum?" Kidd asks.

A few seconds later a UNSC Dropship spins around the clearing of trees and begins hovering over the ground near the Marines.

"Ooookay people lets move back, I don't know what this is" Collins ordered.

The Ship touched down and a medic hoped out.

"Staff Sergeant Collins?"

"Yeah"

"Command tells us you have wounded, we're here to bring them out"

The medic tells Collins while handing him a paper giving them permission to relieve the Sniper and the other three men injured.

Collins calls out to the Marines and two men with bandaged arms, and chest walk forward. Another who is a lot worse is hauled on to the Dropship with a makeshift stretcher. Collins signs the paper.

"Lieutenant we only have 11 men left, from 20. Five dead four injured. What the hell do we do now? We're sorely outnumbered and outgunned, we can't possibly complete the mission." Collins reported to the Medic.

"I know, I don't like it either, but Command is stubborn, and Command thinks you can get a bit farther at least. I'm a medic Sergeant, I know what's could happen..."

"If you don't mind hanging around Sergeant, two more Dropships will be around in approximately 15 minutes, bringing supplies and reinforcements." The Medic said.

"What do we do about the Cruiser?" Collins asks.

"Command's going to take care of it, they want you to keep moving after your reinforcements arrive."

"What's happening? Why isn't the Dropship taking the wounded back yet?" Mac asked Emanuel.

"I don't know, think I heard one of 'em say reinforcements." Emanuel said while still looking forward trying to make out as much as possible.

"What? More men to get killed? This is fucked, we can't do anything here, why not just blast the downed Dropships from space?"

"Planetary bombardment is used for Genocide Mac, it's HIGHLY in-accurate, because when they do it, they don't care what they blast, as long as it dies."

Two more Dropships whipped around from the same way the first had, spun in the air and touched down all in one maneuver. Three soldiers hopped out of each and marched over to Sergeant Collins where they introduced themselves, their rank, names and jobs. No one salutes in the field. A sniper could be watching to see who's in charge, ready to wax them.

"Christ" muttered Zach who hadn't said a word yet today.

"The Slaughterhouse isn't sated?" He said angrily. The Marines sometimes called Command the Slaughterhouse because half the Commanders there had never seen combat and just got their rank for a few battles won by luck against the Koslovics.

Good leaders were hard to come by these days. All the good ones tried to be heroes and ended up having bricks buried for them. The good Generals were all shot down in their 'Airborne Command Centers, or bombed to dust and ashes somewhere else.

About a half-hour later the marines were marching through the muck again, brushing away leaves and forcing their way through the forest. It was damned hot, compared to the day of freezing rain though it was great. Great to have the sun beating down on you, when you already smell like shit and are tired as hell, the flack jackets, boots, helmets and extra gear didn't help much for the Marines either.

Mac was walking in the middle of the group when it happened.

"When do you think they'll come and pick us up? Realize how dumb all this is," he asked to anyone listening.

"Stop bitching, we all want to but that only makes things worse" a Scout responded.

"Yeah I guess." Mac admitted not wanting to bother the much larger Marine, especially in such shity conditions.

**CRACK**

"So -," Mac started.

His helmet flew off and he fell back into the dirt as blood started pouring from a bullet hole right between his eyes.

**CRACK**

Another shot went off, this one going under Collins' rifle and punching into the mud.

"SNIPERS!" Emanuel yelled.

A flury of colourfull words erupted from the crowd of already pissed off Marines.

Kidd took out his binoculars and started looking everywhere all at once. Zach set his rifle from three burst shots to one, attached a scope and crawled over to Kidd's position.

Until now the six new 'Rines had kept completely silent. Now they were whispering things from one side of the team to the other. Collins joined them as they planned what to do.

Emanuel hears a rustling behind him, he looks over a log as a Koslovic pulls a rifle with a bayonet back and gets ready to stab, Emanuel whips out his pistol and fires three round into the mans chest and 2 in his forehead. All within 4 seconds.

"There", Kidd's expert 'spy eye' spots a shiny object in the bushed on a hill above. Zach looks through his scope in the direction Kidd is secretly pointing. Knowing the enemy could be watching him.

"Okay you neo Commie bastard" Zach whispers.

Kidd calls over to Collins,

"Sir...we got an enemy Sniper up there."

Collins knew what Kidd was asking,

He nodds.

**CRACK**

Zach fires on the enemy sniper with his assault rifle. He switches to full automatic and pins the trigger. Bullets tear up the Sniper's location as blood and dirt shoot into the air where the shots land.

"Nice...nice" Kidd whispers.

Zach bulls the clip out and replaces it.

"Think there are any more?"

"Mmm Hmm," Kidd takes out his survival knife and carves a third line into his rifle's 'Kill count'.

"I'm going out" He drops his backpack and crawls out of the group of Marines. He crawls towards a very thick tree. Stands up, spins around and fires three shots.

He calmly walks back to the group.

"Clear."

No one questions Kidd. No one can question him. If he says everyone is dead, everyone is very dead.

The 'Rines get up, pack up and keep moving after burying Mac as best as they can.

"Try not to think about it." Collins says to those who have never been in the field before.

"So how's your morning been?" Kidd says to Zach.


	9. The New Guy

Specialist Reilly McMahon jumps onto the ladder at the back of a slow moving transport vehicle. He crawls over the top trying to avoid being seen by the four enemy soldiers marching along side it.

"Only four?" He thought to himself.

The vehicle hit a ditch and one of the enemies fell down. McMahon quickly fired off a shot from his silenced pistol into the top of the Marine's skull. The man other enemy marines didn't notice. He crawled to the front of the vehicle and noted the direction of the rear view mirrors.

Suddenly the vehicle stopped.

"Shit" he whispers to himself.

One of the Marines says something to the driver over the radio in Russian. The windows are 2'' bulletproof glass and can't be rolled down, so he can't say it directly to him. McMahon recognizes one of the words as 'piss'.

The lone marine on one side of the vehicle walks off behind a tree not noticing his partner's absence.

McMahon jumps and rolls off the top of the vehicle and runs as quickly and silently as he can over to where the enemy marine is.

He aims his pistol at the upper backside of his foes head and fires, the bullet passes through and hits the tree.

McMahon races towards the back of the vehicle and up the ladder to the top. A few minutes later he hears the two remaining soldiers talking to each other. They walk around the vehicle and towards the tree. He goes for it. He jumps off the vehicle, shoots the lock off the passenger side door, gets inside the vehicle and presses his pistol against the driver's throat, ensuring a painful death if he doesn't comply.

"Drive" McMahon says in Russian.

Terrified, the driver starts the vehicle moving.

"Faster, unless you want to bleed to death," McMahon struggles with his Russian.

The two enemy soldiers notice the vehicle moving, they start running after it, McMahon takes his rifle off his back, kicks open the passenger door, and fires a volley towards the men, downing one. He closes the door and sees the other soldier pull out his pistol and shoot himself as the vehicle gets away.

"Fuck, I guess I would too" McMahon justifies the enemies action to himself.

"McMahon too Collins, I have the bomb"

"Good work, moving to intercept"

McMahon orders the truck to stop.

The driver won't.

He tries again pushing his gun closer to the drivers temple.

The driver just goes faster.

McMahon moves his foot over the breaks and forces the other mans foot down on it. The driver goes forward hitting his head on the steering wheel.

The driver begins throwing punches at McMahon.

FTT

A shot goes through the silencer and into the driver's chest, he screams in pain before McMahon shoots him again in the forehead.

Taking his foot off the breaks, he shuffles over and pushes the dead man out the driver's door after struggling with the lock.

He gets out as Collins and the rest of the group surround and secure the vehicle.

"Open it" Collins orders.

The marines shoot off the locks on the back of the vehicle and let the door slide open.

Collins mutters something into his radio.

Okay, lets get this thing moving. There is a small clearing up ahead. They can pick it up there. The marines re-lock the door with their own locks.

McMahon gets back on the top of the vehicle with a Sniper while another Marine and Collins get in the cab and start driving. The rest of the Marines walk along side it as they drive to the pickup zone.

McMahon loads a new clip into his pistol and putts in back in his jacket. He does the same to his rifle, but mounts it on the truck.

"I just got here yesterday, I've already killed three people and seen that Mac kid get a fucken tunnel through the head."

"You get used to it" Responded the Sniper in a cold tone.


	10. Endgame part1: Time Killing

The Dropship hovered a few meters away from the transport vehicle. A man jumped out and guided the Dropship over the vehicle, engaged the clamps at the back, and pulled the vehicle, and bomb off the ground. The man then gave Collins a piece of paper, jumped back in the ship, and flew away without a word.

Collins read over the paper. Then read it again carefully. He never seemed to get GOOD news on paper, if it was on paper, it was probably something no one would like.

"Right"

"The enemy has captured the black box from one of the downed Dropships" Collins said in a 'here we go again' tone.

"Their in a small city about one kilometer east of here"

"Command would have someone else make the takedown, but we're closest, we're the most elite, and its technically our job, plus, they say we can go home when we're done. They won't admit this mission is a disaster, but they will let us go home. Two Dropships will be here in a half hour to pick us up."

The Marines unpacked decks of cards, rations, anything to pass the time.

"How much you wanna bet we lose more than 5 people when this is over?" Zach asked McMahon.

"Simply putt, I don't. I don't wanna encourage fate"

"Yeah, good point" Zach admits.

What to do for half an hour wondered Kidd. He took off his helmet and checked the Aces he had stuck behind its mesh. He took out a marker and went over the things written on his helmet and gun. Everyone writes on their helmet, he was the only one who writes on his gun. He turned the safety on and took out the magazine while writing. He was often afraid of misfiring and killing a friendly soldier. He looked at his hands. They were black with grease, mud, all kinds of dirt. He had since stopped trying to scrape the gunk out from under his nails. He wanted to wash his hands desperately. Kidd was a bit obsessive compulsive, he knew he'd be washing his hands for about 15 minutes when he got back to base. He didn't say it but he was actually horrified about the upcoming battle. He was fine in the jungles, forests, inside, on ships. Everything, but once he got into urban combat he broke down. It was like the wrench thrown in the gears for him. He was terrified he wasn't going to live once he got there. He didn't want to die in this condition. He pushed the thoughts of dying out of his mind and focused on his gear.

Emmanuel sat beside his disassembled rifle, greasing some parts and checking others.

He was second in command. He had just gone over the battle plan with Collins. Stick to the plan and don't fuck up was what he was thinking before every battle. He finished putting his rifle back together, got up and went to play cards with the other Marines.

Zach just lay on the ground thinking of ways to stay alive. He knew the plan; he knew what to do. He had been in battles like this a thousand times before. But he felt a bit uncertain about this one.

Collins stood at the edge of the field, constantly glancing back at his watch, he felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to see anyone get killed today, he'd had enough of it. Command was going to get a very long 'bitch' letter. He looked back at his watch and noticed that his hand was shaking. He coughed a bit and grabbed his hand to stop it.

He reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. Collins doesn't smoke, and his men knew that. He thought about it for a second, then turned and threw the pack as far away as he could. He leaned back on a tree and slid down, taking off his helmet and pack. Another glance at his watch, the Dropships will be here in three minutes. He wanted to throw up, but he pushed the feeling to the back of his mind, slightly disgusted with himself for being so scared. He had never been so worried about a battle before, he KNEW it was because this was his first command mission.

Kidd stood up as the two Dropships spun around into the field at top speed. He put a fresh clip into his gun, put his helmet back on, bit his lip and started walking towards them with the rest of the marines.


	11. Endgame Part2: Charon Don't Make Change

PART 2: Charon Don't Make Change

Kidd was breathing heavier than ever before. The sweat dripped down his face and stung his eyes and the wounds on his face and neck. He could hear the guns off in the distance. Getting closer, some already close. It was night already. His face was smeared with black camo-makeup stuff. So was everyone else. He had never been this scared in his life.

"ANDY!"

Zach ran through the door of the building Kidd was kidding in.

It took him a second to respond, he was used to people calling him Kidd, his last name, not Andy, his first.

"Christ, we gotta leave NOW!" Zach yelled

"The fuckers are heading right to this place."

Kidd brought out all the strength he could muster and pulled himself off the ground.

"Stark to Collins, I found Kidd, we're getting the fuck out," Zach's voice was wavering in terror.

Collins muttered something back through the walkie-talkie.

It doesn't matter, Kidd thought as he tried to hear Collins. Just live God Damnit.

Zach and Kidd rushed out the door and met up with McMahon around a corner, he was unloading a clip into 2 men on full automatic. The men fell and he stopped firing.

He cocked his head to the left and the three started running.

Zach was looking around for enemy Snipers. He didn't want to see any right now. Things were just not good.

The three ducked down behind a huge piece of fallen concrete.

McMahon took out a gauss bandage, and re-bandaged a knife wound on his arm.

"Report" said Zach.

"We, we, have the Black Box, now we're getting the team out of here as fast as humanly fucking possible." McMahon winced in pain as he spoke and bandaged at the same time.

"Hit it" McMahon grunted as he got up and started running with Kidd and Zach.

They turned a corner to see an enemy Dropship unloading ammo to some Koslovic soldiers.

Kidd reached into his pack and took out three tubes and an RPG. He screwed the tubes together, loaded the grenade, aimed, pulled the trigger. And watched. The grenade flew into a crate of ammo, igniting all the others instantly. The Dropship was engulfed in flames. Some men were instantly killed. Others ran around in flames until finally coming to a rest.

The three ran up to the ship, guns ready. A man jumped up from behind a pile of rubble, with his hands up, yelling something in Russian. He was only able to get one word out before the three opened up his head on fully automatic.

"Christ! There's nothing left of that!" Zach yelled in horror, but not angry with himself at all for doing it.

They kept moving. Collins was up ahead waving to them.

They stopped beside him, standing, they knew it was risky but they wanted to be able to run ASAP.

"What's the deal?" Kidd asked.

"No good. We're outnumbered even worse than in the jungle, and we can't get a Dropship in to get us out. So we have the rest of the men up a few yards in a building, we found rocket launchers so enemy air strikes won't be a problem, lets go" Collins gave no time for the others to respond."

A rocket tore through a Koslovic Scimitar Bomber, detonating once inside. The marines watched as the ship, twice the size of a Dropship, go down in flames. It slammed into a flat roof a few blocks away, skidded off, and exploded in a cluster of buildings, and soldiers.

Snipers were positioned at the windows. A few men with rocket launchers stood by as well. A heavy machine gun was mounted in a hole in the building, raining hot lead hell down on the Koslovics.

The Koslovics opened up with their Warthog's chain guns. Tearing through the walls of the building, a few UNSC men fell as bullets tore through the wall they were hiding behind.

Kidd pushed a man out of the way and fired a rocket out the window between two warthogs, destroying them.

Collins was on the long distance radio. Again with the concerned look on his face. But this time he was almost white as paper, he clicked the radio off, and called all the men away from the windows and into the center of the building.

"Half an hour ago the Dropship carrying the enemy Tactical Nuke, was shot down. The enemy didn't even know the nuke was on board, but it survived in the armor of the transport vehicle. The enemy is pulling out of the city. Their gonna nuke it."

NOTE:

_A Scimitar is the curved sword that Pirates are often seen using. So a Scimitar Bomber is like an early version of the Longsword Bomber used in HALO. The kind at the end of the game. Longsword Bombers can also be seen taking out some kind of plasma artillery in that Gameplay video of HALO 2. "Charon Don't Make Change" is the name of an old Marathon 2: Durandal level, HALO is based on MARATHON, and yes, the Marathon trilogy is from Bungie. Charon is the guy who ferries the souls over the River Styx, in some myth/legend/bible, whatever. Meaning bring exact change. _


End file.
